Prep Football : Tustin Shocks El Toro : Goal-Line Stand Saves Tillers’ First Victory of Season

Casey Mazzotta kicked a 35-yard field goal and caught a touchdown pass, and Tustin High School held off El Toro’s late rally for a 17-14 victory Thursday at Mission Viejo High School.

The Tillers (1-3), with just one touchdown in their first three games, were ahead, 17-7, when El Toro’s David Nemeth scored on a 1-yard run 6 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Tustin’s defense, which had permitted only three touchdowns before Thursday, allowed El Toro (2-2) to drive 47 yards in 8 plays to a first-and-goal situation at the Tustin 6 with 2 minutes left to play.

The Tillers held Nemeth and Jason Vivonia to 1-yard gains on running plays, and then defensive end Jason Mooney stopped Nemeth at the 3 on third down.

With 50 seconds left, another Tiller defensive end, Clayton Sellers, dragged down Nemeth for no gain to end the threat.

Mazzotta kicked his field goal 2 minutes into the game to give Tustin a 3-0 lead. His kick came three plays after Jason Avey returned the opening kickoff 73 yards to the El Toro 24.

Two minutes after the field goal, the Chargers took their only lead of the game, 7-3, on Steve Stenstrom’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Sean Drinkwater. The play capped a 68-yard, 4-play drive that included a 19-yard Stenstrom pass to Nemeth, who also had a 23-yard run in the series.

With less than a minute left in the first quarter, Tustin took a 10-7 lead on Ron Goods’ 10-yard touchdown run. The score came 11 plays after Monte Jones’ punt bounced off an El Toro player and was recovered at midfield by Aaron Gutridge.

El Toro lost three fumbles in the first half, and Tustin took advantage of one late in the second quarter. Two plays after Chris Feliciano recovered a fumble by the Danny Maestas at the Charger 27, Jones fired a 31-yard touchdown pass to Mazzotta with 45 seconds left in the half to make it 17-7.